Drinking at The White Lotus

Sah wah dee khap! “The White Lotus” Season 3 (HBO Max) is the water cooler show of the spring. Set in a luxury resort in Thailand, season 3 delivers bullets, Buddhists, bald guys, and body bags. From the insincerity of the staff welcome—all fake smiles and mandatory hand waves—to the watery endings of all three seasons, writer and director Mike White invites viewers to experience a new White Lotus wellness and spa destination each season through the eyes of its staff and wealthy guests.

The Season 3 opening sets the tone, with a dark collage of mythological creatures inspired by mural artworks from Thai temples, while the eclectic soundtrack has a febrile intensity that ratchets up the anxiety and tension across all eight episodes. The ensemble cast, meanwhile, navigates a plot that contains more than its fair share of misdirection and narrative cul-de-sacs. "The White Lotus" has a lot of drinks on screen, from protein shakes to Piña Coladas, so naturally, Whisky Advocate has the lowdown on the drinking habits of all your favorite characters and how beverages are used in the show, though please note, this article does include spoilers.

Amid the coconut palms, Banyan trees, Lanna-style villas, and infinity pools, The White Lotus is a composite of several of Thailand’s finest hotels in Phuket and Koh Samui. These include the Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort, Anantara Mai Khao Phuket Villas, Four Seasons Koh Samui, Anantara Bophut Koh Samui, and the Ta Khai restaurant at the Rosewood Phuket Luxury Beach Resort. The main bar at The White Lotus is The Singing Bird Lounge at the Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort, where they now serve cocktails named in honor of the show, such as the Anantara White Lotus Mirage. The recipe calls for gin infused with jasmine tea, Campari, Chulalongkorn rose syrup, and calamansi juice (made from the small citrus also known as the Philippine lime). The location where Rick meets Frank is The Bamboo Bar at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, a jazz bar that has been welcoming guests since 1953. In real life, the bar boasts a whisky list of more than 90 selections including Pappy Van Winkle Special Reserve 12 year old, Johnnie Walker King George V, Glenfiddich 30 year old, and Dewar’s 12 year old in case Rick stops in for a drink.

The Drinking Habits of "The White Lotus" Characters

Rick Hatchett

With his perpetually furrowed brow and defeated expression, Rick (Walton Goggins) looks for any excuse to escape the company of his girlfriend Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) to smoke, drink, and stare out at the ocean in quiet despair. Rick drinks whisky neat throughout the show; other than the occasional beer, and he is most likely to be found brooding and alone, holding a rocks glass and a cigarette. At The White Lotus, it seems, there are no Glencairns. When Rick orders a Dewar’s at The Bamboo Bar, it’s the only named whisky brand in the show. Nobody else seems to care what whisky is in their glass.

Timothy Ratliff

Wealthy businessman Tim (Jason Isaacs) has brought his wife Victoria and their three adult children, Saxon, Piper, and Lochlan to Thailand. He arrives stressed, finds it difficult to relax, refuses the resort’s offer to surrender his phone on arrival for a digital detox, and his life goes downhill from there. Tim drinks white wine with his family in the hotel restaurant at the beginning of the week, but he’s another main whisky drinker in this season. As the story unfolds, he is plunged into an existential crisis as he learns his career, standing, fortune, and freedom are all in peril as he is placed under investigation for various financial misdemeanors back home. Tim switches to stealing his wife’s Lorazepam, taking his first tablet in episode 2, then acquiring the whole canister by episode 4 as he (badly) attempts to overcome his anxiety and suppress his urge to commit murder/suicide. Invited to spend the afternoon on a luxury yacht, a maudlin Tim drinks whisky neat onboard. Later, he joins Gary/Greg at the bar where they drown their sorrows, both sipping whisky as they make cautious small talk, sizing each other up but avoiding the disclosure of anything too personal. When Tim is invited to Gary/Greg’s villa in episode 7, he orders a whisky with a little ice from the well-stocked bar. Not a man to be trusted with the at-home cocktail trend, Tim collects and grinds seeds of the othalanga in the blender to make Piña Coladas for the Ratliff family members of legal drinking age. The poisonous seeds contain cerberin, which can lead to heart block, ventricular fibrillation, and death.

Gary/Greg Hunt

A returning character from earlier seasons, Greg (Jon Gries) goes by the name Gary in season 3. Now a multi-millionaire thanks to events at the end of season 2, Gary/Greg and his new, younger girlfriend Chloe (Charlotte Le Bon) reside in a large private villa with a pool and own a substantial luxury yacht. In the opening episode, Chloe befriends Chelsea, and with Rick and Gary/Greg, the two couples spend the first few evenings having dinner: both Gary/Greg and Rick end up drinking whisky. Toward the end of the season, Gary/Greg is most likely to be found cradling a whisky, readjusting his seating position, and voyeuristically watching Chloe from afar as she flirts with guys closer to her age.

Frank

Frank (Sam Rockwell) arrives in Episode 5 and orders chamomile tea in The Bamboo Bar, much to the surprise of his buddy Rick, who only knows Frank as a party animal. They have never hung out sober. Ten months since his last drink, Frank offers a full explanation to an incredulous Rick, delivering his now-infamous monologue about how his hedonistic lifestyle got out of control. Episode 6 and 7 opens the subplot as Rick, posing as a movie producer, persuades Frank, pretending to be a bigshot movie director, to visit the owners of The White Lotus in their own home on the pretense of casting Sritala (Patravadi Mejudhon) in an upcoming movie project. Rick believes hotel owner Jim Hollinger (Scott Glenn) murdered his father. Rick orders whisky, but after initially ordering herbal tea, Frank changes his mind as he struggles to keep up with the charade. Ending his sobriety, Frank declares that a whisky might be helpful. Rick downs his whisky in one to calm his nerves, causing Jim to remark with admiration, “My kind of drinker.” After the pair flees the house, Frank continues to imbibe and falls heavily back into the party lifestyle he tried to leave behind.

Laurie, Kate, and Jaclyn

These childhood friends (Carrie Coon, Leslie Bibb, and Michelle Monaghan) share a villa at The White Lotus, taking a long overdue girls’ trip to reconnect with each other’s lives. They drink wine every night of their vacation, usually unscrewing a fresh bottle of white from the villa’s minibar each evening. In the restaurant over dinner, Kate prefers a glass of rosé, while Jaclyn sips a variety of cocktails. By the time they hit the club with Valentin (Arnas Fedaravičius) and his Russian friends, the three friends are drinking cocktails, with Laurie carrying a Julep cup, while the Russians down shots of vodka. These guests probably consume the most drinks at The White Lotus over the week.

Chloe

When Chloe appears in episode 1, she orders a Mauresque at the bar and strikes up a conversation with Chelsea, who is nursing a Martini after being abandoned by Rick. Chloe drinks red wine at dinner with Gary, Rick, and Chelsea the following night. She instigates the full-moon party with Chelsea, Saxon, and Lochlan, persuading Gary to let her use the boat.

Victoria Ratliff

Victoria (Parker Posey), wife to Tim, arrives at The White Lotus jetlagged in a Lorazepam haze. Her tsunami nightmare indicates a feeling of overwhelming dread, as she takes several days to acclimatize. Once her husband steals her Lorazepam, she becomes more lucid as the week goes on, though she contemplates drinking to help her get to sleep without pills. Piper, No! One of the most popular characters in "The White Lotus," Victoria’s character has gone viral for her North Carolina accent and key one-liners in the show, with killer dialogue such as “Boodizzim,” "Soonaaammi,” and “You want to live in Taiwan?” Victoria typically drinks white or red wine with dinner, occasionally enjoying an extra glass back at the villa, and Tim orders her a Gin and Tonic at Gary and Chloe’s villa in episode 7.

Belinda Lindsey

Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) is the other returning character, the former spa manager from The White Lotus in Hawaii, arriving in Thailand to enjoy a working vacation. Amongst the female characters in The White Lotus Season 3, Belinda is the only whisky drinker. Still harboring her dream of owning her own wellness business one day, she is able to partake in everything the resort has to offer, as well as partnering with Pornchai (Dom Hetrakul) to learn about the wellness treatments on offer at The White Lotus in Thailand. She recognizes Gary/Greg as the former husband of the late Tanya McQuoid (Jennifer Coolidge), raising her concerns with hotel manager Fabian (Christian Friedel) that he was responsible for her death. At Gary/Greg’s house party, Belinda is offered a deal that could help make her business dreams come true, providing it also buys her silence. Her son Zion (Nicholas Duvernay) pays her a visit, making a case for a much higher settlement on her behalf with Gary/Greg, with both Belinda and Zion drinking whisky poured over hand-carved ice spheres during the tense negotiations. During the early parts of the week, Belinda drinks red wine or beer with dinner and sips an Old Fashioned while talking with Pornchai, who prefers a beer, as the two get to know each other better.

Chelsea

Chelsea (Aimee Lou Wood) is Rick’s partner. Despite his cranky behaviour and the fact that his main reason for traveling to Thailand is his belief that he can find the man who killed his father rather than spending the week with her, Chelsea is determined to enjoy herself on this splurge and use the time to work on their relationship. Despite close shaves with death during a robbery and following a snake bite, she has an unshakeable belief that she will be with Rick forever. Unaccustomed to the luxury lifestyle, she makes a faux pas in the restaurant, complaining about the size of the pour when the waiter serves her a little wine for her approval to ensure it's not corked. Abandoned by Rick in episode 1, she later drinks a martini at the hotel bar and ends up talking with Chloe.

The Ratliff children

The eldest son of Timothy Ratliff, Saxon (Patrick Schwarzenegger), works for his father and is a chip off the old block. A libidinous bro, brimming with self-confidence and toxic masculinity, Saxon’s drink of choice is the protein shake, made in the blender in the villa’s kitchen to maintain his physique. He sips neat spirits in episode 1, a gin and tonic in episode 2, and has bottled beer on the yacht in episode 4. By the time he caves into peer pressure at the full moon party in episode 5, the group take to Thailand’s famous bucket drinks – cocktails of cheap liquor, ice, soda, and caffeinated energy drinks, typically sucked through straws and shared by backpackers on the banana pancake trail. Piper (Sarah Catherine Hook), the middle child, has traveled to Thailand to explore Buddhism and spirituality with the hope of swapping her life of privilege and non-existent thesis for a year of meditation at a monastery. Other than family meals, Piper does not consume many alcoholic beverages. Lochlan, a high school senior who idolizes his older brother Saxon, mainly drinks bottles of Coca-Cola, especially in the presence of his Christian parents. Though he doesn’t particularly enjoy them, he is attracted to drinking protein shakes to earn the admiration of his brother. While his father is stealing Victoria’s lorazepam on Gary/Greg’s yacht in episode 4, Lochlan, encouraged by Saxon, swigs bottled beer on the boat, becoming Saxon’s wingman as he tries to impress women on the boat. Once the debauchery of the full moon party is in full swing, Lochlan proves to be a much more enthusiastic partygoer than his hesitant elder brother.

How Beverages are used in "The White Lotus"

Most episodes of The White Lotus play out over the course of a day, with beverages being poured for the guests as aperitifs in the early evening and served in the restaurant with dinner. Hotel staff, including Mook (Lalisa Manobal) and Gaitok (Tayme Thapthimthong), are never shown consuming any alcoholic beverages, not even on their first date or while watching a Muay Thai fight. Once the guests step aboard Gary/Greg’s yacht in episode 4, the guests start consuming drinks much earlier in the day, with the greatest amount of alcohol being consumed during the night of the full moon party. There is no noticeable product placement of alcohol brands in the show, with very few bottle labels visible on screen, other than some fake beer brands. Early on, guests drink to relax and unwind, to ease themselves into their vacation, to socialise, and to reward themselves. By the end of season 3, we watch guests using alcohol to blot out their inner demons, as a sedative, to manage anxiety, to appear more sophisticated to the opposite sex, to lower inhibitions, to deceive and manipulate others, to party to excess, and to contemplate taking life. While alcohol brands follow strict advertising standards, observe prohibited messaging, and endorse responsible drinking, screenwriters and production companies making drama for television clearly do not have the same obligations.

Reflected through the lives of wealthy American guests staying in an international luxury hotel, we can’t be sure what guests are served when they ask for whisky, but our hunch would be scotch. Other than bucket drinks served to tourists, viewers will not learn about Thai drinking culture, Thai beverage producers, or Thai brands through The White Lotus, such as the country’s popular beer brands, Mehkong and other spiced rums, molasses-based spirits, and rice-based spirits such as lao khao. ThaiBev is the country’s largest producer of alcoholic beverages, and International Beverage, the international arm of the group, also owns Inver House Distillers that operates Balblair, Old Pulteney, Speyburn, and AnCnoc single malt scotch brands and The Cardrona Distillery in New Zealand.